Posts tagged ‘Jonathan Nolan’

I typically stand wholeheartedly against anyone doing a remake simply for the sake of remaking something, especially when the original was not only pretty darned good but also something that I have a bit of a soft spot for. Zack Snyder managed to win me over with his version of Dawn of the Dead, a film I desperately wanted to hate just because I thought that the original film should never ever have been molested by a remake. And now here comes Jonathan Nolan and HBO to molest Michael Crichton’s classic Westworld.

And y’know what? It works. It’s in the process of winning me over. The pilot episode seriously intrigued me. I always loved Crichton’s original film, and this new interpretation looks like it could visit some pretty interesting (and rather dark) places. I would love to see them address the various aspects of artificial intelligence and questioning reality that the creative brains behind Caprica and Virtuality suggested those shows would eventually visit. I’m not even missing Yul Brynner.

Speaking of Ronald D. Moore, yes indeed, I have to say that this new series appears to do for the original film what Ron Moore’s reimagined Battlestar Galactica did for the original ’70s Galactica series. The third episode here is bogged down by too much dippy exposition and some dodgy de-aging CGI, but it also includes the most chilling moment thus far:

“Analysis: what prompted that response?”
“I don’t know.”

So … three eps in and I’m enjoying it enough to ride it out for the rest of the first series. The production value is impeccable; the interior of the park looks even better than Deadwood, and the behind-the-scenes parts of the park look far sleeker, colder, more sterile and more chilling than any of the behind-the-scenes bits of the original Delos. The cinematography for the location shoots is gorgeous. And Evan Rachel Wood is just amazing. As long as we don’t dive back into dippy exposition, I expect I’ll enjoy the rest of the run.